The Gospel of Jesus Christ

by | Posted September 8th at 2:58am

The Gospels are selective accounts of the life of Jesus that communicate His identity and His message. That they are selective seems clear from statements we find in the Gospels themselves (Luke 1:1-4; John 20:30; 21:25).

One way they are selective is that they focus primarily on Jesus’s three-year ministry, with the exception of a short discussion of His birth and infancy (Matthew 1–2; Luke 1–2). Since God the Holy Spirit inspired these Gospels (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21), we can assume they contain everything God wanted us to know about the words and works of Jesus.

The four Gospel writers were each seeking to reach a different audience. They therefore included different emphases:

• Matthew wrote his Gospel between AD 50 and 60 to prove to Jews that Jesus was the promised Jewish Messiah. It contains about 130 Old Testament citations or allusions, more than any other Gospel (for example, 2:17-18; 4:13-15; 13:35; 21:4-5; 27:9-10).

• Mark wrote his Gospel in AD 55, and he had no such Jewish motivation. He sought to portray Jesus in action rather than as a teacher. He targeted Gentile readers, and therefore went to great lengths in explaining Jewish customs. About one-third of Mark’s Gospel focuses on the last week of Jesus’s life on earth.

• Luke wrote his Gospel in AD 60, and stressed the wonderful blessings of salvation for all people. He strongly emphasized that God’s grace is for the undeserving. Luke—a well-educated and cultured man—wrote his Gospel based upon reliable, firsthand sources (Luke 1:1-4). And even as a medical doctor, he expressed unflinching belief in Jesus’s many miracles (4:38-40; 5:15-25; 6:17-19; 7:11-15) as well as His virgin birth (1:35).

• John wrote his Gospel between AD 85 and 90, and focused heavily on the identity of Jesus, thoroughly demonstrating His divine origin and deity. John demonstrated that Jesus has the attributes of deity, including omniscience (John 4:29), omnipresence (14:23), and pre-existence (1:1; 8:58; 17:5).

This Gospel is evangelistic, seeking to persuade people to trust in Christ for salvation (20:31). The word “believe” occurs almost a hundred times in this Gospel. In all four Gospels, it is clear that the very heart of Jesus’s teaching is the kingdom of God. This refers to God’s reign as King over all the earth—even in the hearts of people today.

The kingdom of God arrived in New Testament times because the King (Jesus) had arrived. The kingdom was present because the King was present (Matthew 5:3; 8:12; 12:28; 19:24; 21:31; 21:43; 25:34; Luke 12:32; John 3:3,5; 18:36; Romans 14:17; Colossians 1:13; James 2:5; 2 Peter 1:11; Revelation 12:10).

There is also a future aspect of the kingdom, involving a 1000-year reign of Christ on earth following His second coming (Revelation 20:1-6). Following are key applicational concepts in the four Gospels.

^{Inspired by Theologian: Ron Rhodes, The Key Ideas Bible Handbook: Understanding and Applying All the Main Concepts Book by Book (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2016), 243–244.}

Article posted by Glen R. Jackman, founder of GraceProclaimed.org

Glen has optimized his eldership role to teach the full scope of the New Covenant of Jesus Christ without boundaries.
You can read his testimony.